Awesome: “Aqua Buddha” reincarnated as attack on originator

posted at 5:47 pm on October 21, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

It was one of the most despicable attack ads of the 2010 cycle — and now it’s returning to haunt the man who launched it. Republican Todd P’Pool will challenge sitting Attorney General Jack Conway in Kentucky, who lost to Rand Paul in the Senate race by twelve points after getting blasted for running his “Aqua Buddha” ad that turned a college prank into a weird smear over Paul’s religious beliefs. Conway’s allies have already gone on the attack against P’Pool, but the Republican is reminding Kentuckians about Conway’s record of smears in his new ad:

One of 2010’s most controversial attack ads is back in 2011. And it’s being used against the candidate who launched it last year.

Nationally, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway is best known for his 2010 Democratic Senate campaign that fell short against now Republican Sen. Rand Paul. But Conway’s running for reelection this year, and his GOP opponent is referencing a commercial the Democrat’s 2010 campaign used to attack Paul’s religious views.

P’Pool’s ad, running in several Kentucky markets, says Conway embarrassed Kentucky nationally with the personal attack. The ad claims that Conway and his allies are “lying again” — this time about P’Pool’s record.

P’Pool’s ad is meant as a defensive against an outside interest group that criticized the Republican’s work as a trial lawyer and Hopkins County attorney. The group claimed instances when P’Pool improperly billed state government while working on child-support payment cases and raised a client’s fees in the middle of the case. P’Pool says the attacks are false.

Campaign manager David Ray said the Republican brought up the Senate ad because it “highlights Jack Conway’s poor judgment.”

After that Aqua Buddha attack, Jack Conway should have been run out of politics altogether. It looks like P’Pool wants to finish the job Paul started.